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The Sandby borg massacre refers to an ancient crime scene unearthed on the island of Öland in Sweden, where archaeologists uncovered evidence of a brutal slaughter approximately 1,500 years ago. The circumstances surrounding the massacre are currently unknown but the recent discovery of a child’s skeleton – the first child victim to be identified in the massacre – provides a new piece to the puzzle.

The original discovery was made during excavations of the Sandby borg ringfort on Öland. The team of archaeologists found the remnants of a small town, which appeared to have been a prosperous place where people lived comfortably in small huts and reared livestock for meat. But among the ruins of the town, they found the bodies of ten slain residents (with many more believed to remain buried). Two were found lying next to the door of a hut as if they had been slaughtered as they tried desperately to escape.

“I think they were ambushed in some way and people were running into the house trying to kill them and they didn't have a chance,” said Helene Wilhelmson , a researcher who specializes in the study of bones at Sweden's Lund University. “'It's more of a frozen moment than you normally see in archaeology… Something terrible happened, and everything just stopped.”

From the evidence, it appears that the site was abandoned and remained untouched for 1,500 years. Even treasures like gilded brooches and jewelry were left at the scene and later uncovered at an earlier excavation in 2010. Archaeologists suggest that the location may have been taboo after the massacre, with people simply too terrified to return to the town.

Photo from the excavation of one of five caches of 5th century jewellery found at Sandby borg in 2010. Photo courtesy of Jan-Henrik Fallgren.

Discovery of a child skeleton

According to a news release on Past Horizons , another gruesome discovery was made in September this year during an excavation carried out by the Department of Museum Archaeology at Kalmar County Museum, in cooperation with students from Linnaeus University. Archaeologists unearthed the skeletal remains of an adult male, aged 50 – 60 years, along with a small child, aged 2 to 5 years, both of whom were lying face down in a fireplace in the center of a building. It is the first child to be identified among the victims of the massacre at Sandby borg. Until now, it was believed that only adults had been in the ringfort when the event took place.

According to Clara Alfsdotter, osteologist at the museum of Bohuslän who conducted an analysis of the remains and the scene, it appears the adults and child were struck down and fell into the burning fireplace.

This skeleton of an old man was found lying across the large fireplace in House 52. Next to him, a humerus of a small child (estimated to around 2-5 years old) was found. Photo courtesy of Kalmar County Museum.

One theory links the massacre to a reduction in Roman gold around the same time.

“It is well known that Öland in this period saw intensive contacts with the Roman Empire. In fact, nowhere else in Scandinavia have so many solidi [gold coins] been found as on Öland. Probably, many Ölanders travelled to work for the Roman Emperor getting paid with solidi which they brought back home,” write the research team . “Towards the end of the 5th century, there was a dramatic decrease in the solidus gold influx to Öland. The massacre at Sandby borg seems to have occurred around this date, making the potential connection with Roman gold a hotspot for further investigation.”

So far, only 3% of the ringfort has been excavated and the archaeological team are now trying to raise funds to complete their research.

“The reason these bodies have not yet been recovered is mainly financial; we strongly feel that – given the unique circumstances – we must uncover these humans in the proper way, and we must tell their story,” the research team writes on a crowdfunding page . One of the rewards for funding is to join the archaeological team on site at the next Sandby borg excavation.

Video of the Sandby borg excavation and discoveries

Featured image: In house 40 in the Sandby borg ringfort, the skeletons of two young men were found right inside of the door. Further into the house are more human remains, still awaiting excavation. Photo courtesy of Kalmar County Museum.

April Holloway

Is a Co-Owner Editor and Writer of Ancient-Origins She is also a guest writer on Epoch Times and iSpectrum Magazine She completed a Bachelor of Science Psychology degree and published research in the field of Educational Psychology She has has... Read More

Comments

Read the assembled translations of Ibn Fadlans notes from his journey to the North and take his word for it, then you will understand the true purpose of those mud wall and timber fortifications. If it were human luters, why didn´t they take all the lute with them ? There is an old expression in Sweden " att ana ugglor i mossen" Which would translate to English something like: "Percieving owls in the bog" . the expression go no further, but the lore is, that when this happens, then you should worry. Why, for the owls? No, you should worry for the Vendols or Trolls, they probably also exhibited red Eye shine, like owls do, but you would rarely if, ever have owls out on a bog.

Ibn Fadlan was Ahlan Ibn Fadlan (Ibn "son of"). He was a sort of Arabian Marco Polo from Baghdad in the tenth century. He met with some possible Viking traders whilst in Russia and wrote about it. Fast forward to 1976 and a pal of the late Michael Chrichton had annoyed him by saying he didn't like Beowulf. Chrichton decided to rewrite it and decided that using the perspective of a visiting Arab traveler would be an innovative device for plot progression. He incorporated Ibn Fadlan in the first bunch of chapters then set to work: Beowulf became Buliwyfe. Grendel and his Dam became a monstrous tribe the Wendol and their Queen. The resulting novel was "Eaters of The Dead." I haven't seen it but apparently the film "The 13th Warrior" is based on it; however the Wendol are more barbarian than monster.
The rest, as they say, is [fictional] history.
Or rather Urban Mythology. This story came to my attention when it turned up on that scholarly organ Ancient Aliens. Some of those guys and some Sasquatchers seem to be believing Mr Chrichton's novel rather than the actual account which isn't very long. You can find the translation in the link below. Note there is a piece before it explaining how there is some debate about whether the people Ibn Fadlan met were even Viking. Then it's the actual translation in full with annotations at the end.
Sadly, there are no red eyed monster people.
http://www.uib.no/jais/v003ht/03-001-025Montgom1.htm

There is allways debate over historical references, and authors have in all times spiced up old stories and sometimes distorted them totally ( like perhaps the tales of King Arthur) . But I belong to the category of people that believe that there is something behind all these old tales anyway. In this case there are some traces left to at least the author involved and some different translations.

Except for this part of actual documentation, distorted or not, the folklore play the other role. I also do believe that there allways is something behind this as well. As it happens, I am half Ölandic in my heritage, the other half stemming from the other side of the straits. Which ever, almost no one in Sweden believe that the Trolls have ever excisted in reality. Those that once did, where burnt through the deeds of the Church. In the southern part of Sweden, one Count boasted to have killed the last Troll sometime in the 15:th Century. A bust of this last Troll is featured on one of the walls of what once was his castle. Contrary to the North Americas, the Trolls also really went extinct here in Sweden, a destiny that also the Swedish wolfes met ( but the wolfes have now been succesfully reinstated in the fauna). The American Trolls though, have now been proven to excist scientifically, and have been given the name Homo Sapiens Cognatus ( as registered i Zoobank). I know how it have been silenced down, but no one have been capable of debunking the evidence for its excistance. I myself have been working with molecular biology technology, albeit many years ago, and dare to say that the study is very extencive and rigorous. No chance it could have been faked, it would have taken someone more than a lifetime to try to do that, but I still don´t think it would have been possible to fake it.

I would love it to be shown that there were species of relict hominid skulking out there. It's always frustrating to see the people trying to investigate it, overpowered by the hoaxers and to be frank, oddballs that end up gravitating to this sort of phenomenon. In fact it's the only bit of cryptozoology that seems to have any real legs. I mean: Nessie... Anyway, all I was saying was that the text translation along with its commentary shows quite clearly that there is lots of things in the text but no trolls. When you add it to Beowulf as Crichton did, you get Eaters of The Dead. Then you get people putting it about as fact (the Ancient Aliens guys wanted us to believe Bigfoot was from space for example!) and it gets fuzzy from then on. It happens all the time. El Chupacabra reads like a classic runaway urban myth, for example. Would like to hear what your studies found out about old Bigfoot though, maybe you could put something in the forums?

Off cause it is the amount off different stories, what they have been trying to tell you and if the original message can even be seen through all the interpretations, that you will have to base our opinion on. Really, it sums up to what you believe and never to what is proof.

Concerning the Bigfoots of North America, I am following the developments at a safe distance, not meaning the threat from the actual giants themselfes, but rather the threat from the different groups of haters ( including certain sectors of the society). So, I am the yellow lazy one in this way, but I have no option, being to far away in any case.

There are some very brave, dedicated and skillful scientists working in this field of research though, most and formost of these dr Melba Ketchum, but also dr Jeff Medrum, dr Bindernagel and dr Sykes. Also amongst all the other enthusiasts, many seem to be very dedicated and serious in what they do. Then it all drowns in the constant flowing river of hoaxes, jokes, hate and propaganda.

My minismal contribution may be that I have a basic understanding of molecular biology technology and generally biology- chemistry issues. Many would qualify to that level of understaning in this field, but nearly all off these people would also be working within academia, which I am not. Clearly, all those others would risk their position if they would support this science. I recommend you to read dr Melba Ketchums study and I grant you that the actual sample collection, sample qualification, sample testing, contamination testing and the result presentation is rock solid. It definitely tells you: this is a new species and it is somehow closely related to humans.

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